First big solo trip.

[red]

So... with my on-again / off-again riding over the past 15 years or so, I've never taken a big solo trip by myself. I've done a few multi-day trips with either my wife, or a friend but never solo. Recently, since reviving the Hurricane, I only ride alone. Most of my old riding buddies either quit, have very different lives from me, or I'm just not in contact with. Therefore, I have learned to love riding alone. Wanna hit that corner over and over, hell yeah. Don't wanna go that way, change it. Etc etc, freedom etc.

With DooM22 coming up, this will be my first solo trip, but I may meet up with @Rench on the way. So, any tips/tricks for putting on my big boy pants and riding alone? I think if I didn't have a family, I would probably not be so apprehensive, but you know, responsibility.

[Jaeger]

What's your planned route? You gonna take U.S. 50 all the way across? I might do that from my end to make the ride more interesting.

You gonna do the whole run in one day or break it up?

[Edit] I just looked, it's like a 7 hr ride on The Slab, nevermind stops & interesting times. My advice would be to break it up into 2 days so it's still fun. I was thinking Indy was closer than it really is. It's only a 3-hour hump for me on the fun roads.

--Jaeger

[red]

What's your planned route? You gonna take U.S. 50 all the way across? I might do that from my end to make the ride more interesting.

You gonna do the whole run in one day or break it up?

[Edit] I just looked, it's like a 7 hr ride on The Slab, nevermind stops & interesting times. My advice would be to break it up into 2 days so it's still fun. I was thinking Indy was closer than it really is. It's only a 3-hour hump for me on the fun roads.

--Jaeger

Yup US50 all the way (once I'm past Cinci-nasty), plan to stop and camp at Mountwood Park near Parkersburg, then get a lazy start on Friday to the new Portal. I still plan on camping near by but we'll see where I end up. Then, rinse and repeat for the ride back home on Sunday. I'm definitely gonna need a lot of stretch breaks for my back, and walking around to get feeling back to my ass and arms. The Hurricane is no touring bike.

I could have sworn we rolled US50 all the way home from DooM15 but when I checked my travel logs on Google Maps, we left US50 at Parkersburg and took 32 (James A. Rhodes Appalachian Hwy) the rest of the way to Indiana. So, taking US50 will be new, for half the trip.

[Jaeger]

Yup US50 all the way (once I'm past Cinci-nasty), plan to stop and camp at Mountwood Park near Parkersburg, then get a lazy start on Friday to the new Portal. I still plan on camping near by but we'll see where I end up. Then, rinse and repeat for the ride back home on Sunday. I'm definitely gonna need a lot of stretch breaks for my back, and walking around to get feeling back to my ass and arms. The Hurricane is no touring bike.

I could have sworn we rolled US50 all the way home from DooM15 but when I checked my travel logs on Google Maps, we left US50 at Parkersburg and took 32 (James A. Rhodes Appalachian Hwy) the rest of the way to Indiana. So, taking US50 will be new, for half the trip.

Oh! I remember Mountwood -- isn't that the one with the unregulated run range in the front of the park? If so I spent some quality time there my year living in P-Burg.*

Regardless, that should be a decent ride. I used to love running U.S. 50 between Parkersburg and Clarksburg. It was 2 lanes the whole way, was almost always empty, and even in my little beat-to-shit Honda Civic it was a lot of fun to drive.

It also got exciting because, as I'm sure you know, there's precious little between the two, so if I didn't fuel up in Clarksburg (which I usually didn't) I'd be coming into P-Burg on fumes. Maybe there are more fuel stops there now, but in 1998 there was fuckall, especially late at night. I'd clutch-coast down hills to try to save fuel. I never got stranded, but I often put more back in the tank than was possible according to the owner's manual.

I miss that little hunk-of-shit car.

It was also out in Mountview park, IIRC (or at least that general area), that my buddy Ben invented "Enterprising," which is driving the back roads at night using only your parking/hazard lights to light the way.

*EDIT: So... I went and looked, and yeppers my memory isn't that far gone. It was Mountview that had the unregulated gun range. Emphasis on the "had." From my old newspaper, in fact: https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/lo ... ay-closed/

--Jaeger

[red]

Yeah, I remember there being very few gas stations on US50 east of P-burg. I liked the odd ball DeerWood station. It's like a little tie dyed hippy stop in the middle of confederate flag zone.